Monster (14 page)

A few days.

A few days to figure
out another plan.

A few days to take the
son of a bitch down for good.

Alex could get her
closure.

She could move on with
her life.

“So what you
asking, Lex?” I asked, trying to keep my mind in the present.

“I am saying that
I need you to hold onto her for me.”

Thank god.

I could practically
feel the sigh of relief from Alex. Shooter had moved his hand out and
squeezed her pinkie with his before letting her go. A tiny gesture
that was so much like Shooter. Always thinking of everyone else. Even
though Lex hadn't said anything about letting him off the hook.

“You want me to
keep the bitch for a couple more days?” I asked, knowing I was
going to get an earful about calling her a bitch if we got out of
this.

“You'll get the
same rate. Consider it a paid vacation.”

“A vacation where
I have to cart some chick around with me everywhere?” I asked,
shaking my head.

Lex waved a hand. “I
need her. I don't need her in good spirits. Keep her chained in your
basement for all I care. So long as she is alive and conscious at the
end of the week, I will have no complaints. I do worry though,”
he said, looking between me and Alex in a way that had my teeth
grinding together.

“Don't have time
for games, Lex. Tell me what the problem is or let me get going.”

His eyes narrowed the
slightest bit and I knew I was pushing it. He was getting angry.

“That maybe you
have formed an... attachment.”

At this, I threw my
head back and laughed. A full, throaty sound. To him, it sounded like
what he was suggesting was absurd. To me, it was a good old fashioned
laugh at his expense because I had my face buried in her pussy when
he had Shoot call me earlier.

“She ain't
exactly my type,” I said, shaking my head, still smiling.

“I heard woman
was your type.”

That wasn't exactly
untrue. I got around. I got around with a lot of different women. “I
like a woman who looks like a woman, not a twelve year old boy,”
I went with. I saw Alex stiffen at my remark, but there was nothing I
could do about it. I was trying to help her. If she had to be pissed
at me for it, so be it.

“Twelve year old
boy?” Lex mused, turning his attention back to Alex, his dark
eyes raking over her in a way that made me feel filthy and he wasn't
even looking at me. “I don't think that's fair, Bryan. I mean
they may be small, but they're enough for a handful,” he said,
his body jerking like it was going to move in her direction. But then
he sighed, shaking his head at something he must have been thinking,
and turned to face me. “She's a woman. She's nearby. A man has
his... needs.”

“This is a job. I
keep my dick in my pants,” I drawled, letting there be a slight
double meaning-
I can, but you obviously can't.

Lex let out his
breath, offering me a resigned look. “I need to be sure you
follow instructions to the letter, Breaker. ”

Oh fuck.

I knew where this was
going.

From the look Shoot was
giving me, so did he.

Alex was still just
standing there with her dead eyes, shoulder almost touching Shooter.

“Oh yeah?”
I said, raising a brow at Lex.

“I need to make
sure your loyalty is where it should be.”

“Meaning with
you.”

“Of course,”
he said, waving a hand.

“Break...”
Shooter's voice held warning.

Lex raised a brow at
him. “Hit her,” he said abruptly.

Yeah.

Saw that coming.

Fuck.

Never once. Not in my
life. Not in my career. Never once had I ever raised a hand to a
woman. And, come whatever consequences, I wasn't planning on starting
now.

“Look, you get
your jollies off knocking around women, that's your business,”
I said, shaking my head. “I ain't doing that shit for your
entertainment.”

Lex's chin jerked and a
gun cocked behind my neck.

It was the first time I
had seen a genuine reaction out of Alex since I got the phone call.
Her eyes snapped to mine, widening, knowing that sound before her
gaze found the gun pressed against the back of my head. She looked
like she was ready to bolt.

Attention off of them,
Shoot's pinkie grabbed her's again, but held on, trying to anchor her
in place. She looked over at him, dropping his grip, taking a step
back, and making her eyes move away from me.

“Really Lex?”
I asked, shaking my head, sounding almost bored. It wasn't the first
time I had a gun pointed at me. It wouldn't be the last. All I could
hope for was the shit holding it had a steady trigger finger.

Lex looked
disappointed, then waved a hand at the other guy who immediately
grabbed Alex's arm roughly enough for her to yelp, dragging her away
from Shooter who looked ready to pounce until a gun pressed against
the back of his head too. “Maybe that will help you make your
decision,” he shrugged. When I hesitated, the gun cocked. And I
knew they weren't bluffing. Shoot was useless to them. They'd killed
for less than his name calling earlier.

His eyes told me he was
thinking the same thing. And I saw something there that I never had
before. Not strong. Not prominent. But there.

Fear.

Shit.

Alex's head twitched,
catching my attention. And the second my eyes landed on her's, her
chin lifted, and her eyes opened wider- a look that seemed to scream-
'do it, you have no choice'
.

And I really didn't.

But I couldn't.

“On your knees,”
Lex growled toward Shoot who took a breath and forced a smile.

“Don't know what
way you swing, man, but my mouth is for pussy only,” Shoot
said, attempting levity even in his final moment.

Lead settled in my
stomach, heavy, making me feel rooted in my spot, too horrified to
move. To do anything. To say anything.

Shooter got to his
knees, winking at me.

God damn it.

This couldn't fuckin'
be happening.

“Have any final
words for your brother?” Lex asked, his voice emotionless. Like
he did this every day. In a way, he did.

“Don't forget to
send Pops the scotch,” he said. And he meant that. That was
what he wanted to leave me with.

The man behind him took
a step back, aiming.

“Just hit me!”
Alex shrieked, the sound bouncing off the walls and shooting through
my system like knives.

It was the first time
she had spoken since she greeted Lex and everyone's eyes fell on her.
The air around her seemed to be charged, sparking off with her anger.
Because that was what she was- she was pissed. Her cheeks were
flushed with it. Her posture stiff with it.

“Miss. Miller...”
Lex started.

“Shut your
fucking mouth you slimebag,” she snapped and I fought the urge
to groan. That fuckin' mouth of her's. It was gonna get her in all
kinds of trouble.

To Lex's credit, he
didn't even flinch. I had expected blind rage. I had expected her
brains all over the window behind her. Women did not, ever, speak to
Lex Keith that way.

“This is my
meet...”

“What part of
shut your fucking mouth don't you understand?” she pretty much
just... screamed, before turning her head in my direction. “Stop
this. Stop all of this. Just... hit me.”

“Alex...” I
started, feeling my stomach start to roll, the bile start to work
it's way up my throat as I looked at her face. Her skin like cream,
her bones like a bird underneath it. I raised my hand to her... I
could really cause damage.

And she would never
forgive me.

Not really.

The memory would always
be there under the surface.

She would always know I
was capable of hitting her.

“It's okay,
sweetheart,” Shooter broke in, his tone soothing.

Her eyes rolled. “It's
not o-fucking-kay,” she said immediately. “No one is
dying because I'm a girl and you're afraid to hit me. That's friggen
ridiculous. Just hit me!”

Lex's brow raised and
he nodded at the man behind Shooter who uncocked the gun and put it
away. “You heard the woman,” Lex said, looking very much
like he was enjoying my discomfort. Though not as much as he would
enjoy me putting my hands on Alex. He was probably hard just thinking
about it.

“Breaker...”
Alex said, her voice desperate.
Desperate
.

Maybe that was what did
it.

Someone like her.
Someone who stared at death and said 'eh whatever'. Someone as
collected as that, desperate to save someone else.

And I knew.

Maybe she'd never fully
trust me again after I hit her.

But she'd definitely
not ever forgive me if I didn't.

I grit my teeth,
steeling the contents of my stomach to stay down, and made my way to
her, arm cocked back because I knew I had to hurt her or Lex would
just make me do it again, but also holding back. Because my fist
could just... break her.

I swallowed hard and so
did she.

Then I swung.

My knuckles hitting her
jaw was the single worst feeling the world had to offer. Worse than
Shoot saying his final words to me. Worse than all the lives that had
taken their last breaths at my hands. Worse than the beatings I took
when I was too small to do anything but cry.

Nothing would ever come
close to that feeling.

To seeing her head snap
in the other direction as her body fell. To see her eyes shut hard in
pain.

She went down hard on
her side, one hand braced under her, the other going to her face.

“Bravo,”
Lex said, clapping slowly.

My head jerked to his,
feeling something strange building up in my system. Something I had
never known before. A hot kind of anger. Not my usual cold,
calculating kind. This kind felt like it replaced my blood with
gasoline and someone just lit a match.

There was shuffling on
the ground and out of my peripheral I saw Shooter offer his hand to
Alex. She reached underneath of her. For what, I had no idea, then
took his hand, letting him help her up.

“Fuckin'
satisfied, Lex?” I ground out, brow raising. My fist was still
smarting from the punch and it was taking everything in my power to
not lunge at him and bash his face in with it.

“For now,”
he said, looking down at Alex with a bright, awful glint in his eye.

I couldn't follow his
line of vision. I just couldn't do it. I wasn't ready for the way she
was going to look at me.

“Shooter,”
Lex said, nodding at him.

Shrugging, Shooter
accepted his fate. He had to go back with them. He wasn't gonna bitch
and moan about it. He turned to Alex, chucked her gently under the
chin with his pointer finger, brushed past me, slammed his shoulder
into my arm, then followed Lex's goons out of the car.

“I will be in
contact,” Lex said, looking over at Alex again. This time, the
sick fuck licked his lips once before moving away.

I stood staring at them
leaving. Listening for their boots on the steps. The door closing.
The engines firing up on the street.

“Breaker...”
Alex's voice called.

“No doll,”
I said, keeping my gaze pointedly away.

“Talk to me”
she said.

My head hung, shaking
slightly.

“Nothing will
ever take this away,” I told her, knowing deep down it was
true.